1970 Topps Booklets: The Bobby Murcer Story

This image comes from the photo that would be used for Murcer's 1971 Bazooka card, per Roy Carlson's research.

Murcer's wife, the former Diana Kay Rhodes, goes by Kay. She is one of many Yankee widows who participate in Old Timers Day and other Yankees events.

This is one of the more dramatic stories in these comics. Murcer lost two entire seasons to the army - if he had played in '67 and '68, he may well have hit 300+ home runs. (And with Roger Maris off to St. Louis, #9 in 1968 was Steve Whitaker.)

I'm guessing the clubhouse attendant is supposed to be the legendary Pete Sheehy, who held the job from 1927 to 1985. He wasn't bald, though. GEM Razor did have an ad on the right field wall in Yankee Stadium in '69. The pointy building behind it did not exist in real life, however.

 

Vintage roundup

My recent trades and purchases over the past month. Things have been slower lately, maybe because of the holidays. This year I am going to try to be more active on TCDB.

I've gotten a couple of envelopes from OBCers recently. These three '62s came from Neal Thomas. Two of these players (Lee Thomas and Bob Cerv) had just been traded for each other!

Steve Sankner sent two great 1953 Topps cards.

One TCDB trade lately, with DSPokecards. Two 1968 high numbers for three modern cards! '68s aren't as rare as some other years but I still need plenty of them.

eBay has been pretty quiet for me lately though I still enjoy the weekly Greg Morris auctions. The more '50s and '60s stars I get, however, means there's fewer deals to be had. I'll probably have to stop at some point but I'm still having fun, even as I shift from Topps set needs to oddballs. At least I'm spending less than I had been.

This was a very good week with a ton of variety including a couple of Bell Brand Dodgers, a set I've really grown to like.

The following week was a little disappointing. I raised my bids on some '65 embossed and the high-number Santo, just to make sure I'd have enough cards to make the $5 flat rate shipping worth it, which if it had just been the three commons it wouldn't have been.

Last week was an improvement though, with a 1939 Play Ball of George Selkirk. So cool to have a contemporary card of a player where the back notes he replaced Babe Ruth. Selkirk was no Babe Ruth but had several very good seasons for the Yankees. I also really like the 1960 blue-border parallel of Frank Robinson. I think the colored border works really well there.

I only picked up one other vintage single recently. Since my Topps embossed set has been growing I decided to knock out one of the remaining ones I needed when I saw it for a couple of bucks.

 

Misheard lyrics

Just a dumb idea I had. The first example is something that actually popped into my mind when I heard the song, so I started thinking about others, and before long I had made this. Just being silly with the songs. If you know the song it probably makes more sense. If I did this well enough maybe you'll think of my version next time you hear the song.

"Don Money's not looking for the cure. Don Money's not concerned about the sick among the pure . . ." (Nine Inch Nails) 

"Then I saw her face, and she looked like Tom Seaver. Not a trace of doubt in my mind. I'm in love, I'm a believer . . ." (Monkees)

I actually thought of this one from an Ozzy song called "Believer" which also has the line "I'm a believer" but I went with the song that is much more well known.

"Last dance with Johnny Sain, one more time to kill the pain . . ." (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) 

"Showin' how funky and strong is your fight, it doesn't matter to Adam Wainwright." (Michael Jackson)

"Have some more chicken, have some more pie, it doesn't matter, they're Baked like McBride." (Weird Al Yankovic)

"New York on Sunday, big city taking a nap. Slow down, it's Sunday, life's a ball, give the ball, to JA Happ . . ." (Bobby Darin)

A Yankee Stadium staple on Sunday afternoon games.

 

"Ground Control to Jake DeGrom, commencing countdown, engines on . . . " (David Bowie) 

"Yeek yeek woop woop! Why you all in my ear? Talking a whole bunch of sh* about the Brewers' Rob Deer?" (Ludacris)

"They'll tell you black is really white, the moon is just the sun at night. And then you walk in golden halls with former Dodger Roy Lee Walls . . . " (Black Sabbath)

Ronnie James Dio is my all-time favorite singer.

 

"It'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you, brought to you courtesy of the red Vida Blue." (Toby Keith)

"No more Mr. Nice Guy, no more Mr. Clean. No more Mr. Nice Guy, he's sick like Shawn Green." (Alice Cooper)

"Despite all my rage, I still have this card of Wayne Cage." (Smashing Pumpkins) 

"I heard them tell me that this land of dreams was now. I told them I had ridden shooting stars and said I'd show Steve Howe." (Ozzy Osbourne)

"You got hit, and you should've known better. Faster we run, pitch like Cy Young . . " (Alice in Chains)

I was trying to do the great old Black Sabbath song "Die Young", but it wasn't really working. "Die Young" and "Cy Young" worked too well not to include somehow. Cy Young lived to be 88.

"Hear the rime of the Ancient Mariner, see the eyes of Diego Segui. Mesmerizes one of the wedding guests, stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea . . ." (Iron Maiden)

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands. Diego Segui was the only man to play for both Seattle teams, and was known as "The Ancient Mariner" when he returned to Seattle in 1977.
 

Cake or gum? 1976 Mike Cuellar

Last time it was another easy victory for Topps, 9-3. Will this be closer?

Two very different photos this time. Hostess has a portrait at spring training, while Topps goes for the action shot at Memorial Stadium.

Mike Cuellar made his major league debut with the Reds in 1959, but only pitched in two games. Over the next few years he worked on his screwball in the minor leagues, and he returned to the majors with the Cardinals in 1964. After one decent season the Cardinals traded him to the Astros, where he finally blossomed into an excellent pitcher, making his first All-Star team in 1967 at the age of 30. After a down year in '68 the Astros traded him to the Orioles for Curt Blefary, in what turned out to be a steal of a trade for Baltimore. Blefary had one undistinguished season for the Astros, while Cuellar won the AL Cy Young award (tied with Denny McLain), going 23-11 with a 2.38 ERA. It was the first of six straight 18+ win seasons for Cuellar. He finally ended his career with the Angels at the age of 40 in 1977. Overall in 453 games he went 185-130 with a 3.14 ERA. He had similarly outstanding numbers in the postseason - in 12 starts he went 4-4 with a 2.85 ERA. In three of the four losses he pitched well and lost by a 2-1 score. After his career he did some coaching and worked at a golf course. He died of cancer in 2010.

Wood vs. Wood #252

Last time it was 1987 by an 8-3 margin. Will 1962 fare better here?

Earl Shibe is looking over his shoulder, past the cameraman. I believe the stadium with the red seats is Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Francis came up with the Pirates at the end of the 1960 season, and was a part of their starting rotation the next three seasons. His best season was 1962, going 9-8 with a 3.07 ERA, and he was the team's Opening Day starter in '63. However, arm troubles curtailed his career, pitching in just two games in 1964 and two more in 1965 for the Cardinals. Overall in 103 games (52 starts) he went 16-23 with a 3.77 ERA. After his playing days he had a long career as a meatcutter in a supermarket. He died of diabetes in 2002.

Dennis Martinez (whom I believe only Topps called "Denny") fires a pitch at Shea Stadium. The photo actually looks very static except for the big dirt cloud at his foot. After a decade with the Orioles, Martinez had been traded to the Expos in June of 1986. This would have been June 25, his second game in the National League. Martinez pitched two scoreless innings of relief in a 5-2 Expos loss. The Mets went ahead for good on an RBI single by pitcher Sid Fernandez in the fourth inning. Martinez came up with the Orioles in 1976 and had several up-and-down seasons. A high point was 1981, leading the AL with 14 wins in the strike-shortened season. A low point was being left off the postseason roster in 1983 due in part to his alcoholism. Martinez got sober after that season and was traded to the Expos in 1986, where he got himself together and became a star at age 33. His best season was 1991, when he led the NL with a 2.39 ERA, 9 complete games and 5 shutouts, including a perfect game. He signed with the Indians after the 1994 season, and at age 41 in 1995 he went 12-5 with a 3.08 ERA to help Cleveland win the pennant. He retired after the 1998 season at the age o f 44. Overall in 692 games he went 245-193 with a 3.70 ERA. After his playing career Martinez did some coaching at the major and minor league level, and managed Nicaragua in the 2013 WBC. Martinez's nickname "El Presidente" came from his popularity in his native country. Nicaragua's President since 2007 is dictator Daniel Ortega. In 2022 Ortega had Martinez's name removed from the stadium named for the pitcher in 1998 after Martinez criticized the president.

Wallet card with an alpha-numeric phone number sighting

I spotted this today, of all places on a hand dryer in the restroom of a theater in Bellmore, NY. Check out the phone number: IVanhoe 9-9300.

Janvey & Sons still exists to this day, and they still have the same phone number, though with the more prosaic "489" instead of "IVanhoe 9". 

Does this hand dryer actually date back to the late-1960s move away from alpha-numeric phone numbers? Possibly - the theater is older than that, but was heavily remodeled in recent years. The hand dryer could have been from before the remodel or bought used. It is also possible that Janvey was still using the old-style number for a while later, though a quick google search doesn't turn up anything later than the 1950s. 

Whenever it's from, it's definitely old and I love finding these rare instances of old phone numbers still existing the way they would have 50+ years ago.

1974 Topps Deckle Dating: Charlie Spikes

 Front image via TCDB.

Was tough to find a back image; found this on a Facebook Marketplace post. Being offered for $25 which seems quite reasonable as these cards go.

1973 was Spikes's first year with the Indians, and this looks like it could be Oakland, so we might have a correct date here. It was not an auspicious day for Charlie, as he went 0-for-3 as the DH with two strikeouts as Oakland, behind two Bert Campaneris home runs, knocked off the Tribe 5-2.

In other news, France detonated an atomic bomb in a test explosion in the South Pacific, the Soviet Union launched the Mars 4 orbiter, and National City Bank announced that they would build a 54-story headquarters building on East 53rd Street in Manhattan. By the time the building was completed in 1977, the bank had changed it's name to Citibank, and the building was named the Citicorp Building. At the time of the announcement it was the most expensive city block in the world.

1981 Topps Jerry Morales

 

The front: According to this TCDB list, this is the oldest card of a non-catcher with his cap backwards.

The back: Seems that anybody who played in the '60s didn't have room for a blurb in the back.

The player: Jerry Morales was a solid-hitting outfielder for five teams over a fifteen-year career. His best years were with some bad Cubs teams in the late '70s, including an All-Star appearance in 1977. Overall in 1,441 games he hit .259 with 95 HR and 570 RBI.

The man: Morales was a minor league coach and scout for many years, and has been heavily involved in youth baseball in his home of Puerto Rico.

My collection: I have 25 of his cards, from 1970 to 1984. I would be interested in trading for 1976 Hostess #140.

1976 SSPC Skip Jutze

 

The card, in brief: Skip is looking very serious in this photo.

Playing career, in brief: Skip Jutze was a good defensive catcher who didn't hit much, in part due to some injuries over his six seasons with the Cardinals, Astros and Mariners. His biggest highlight was hitting the first grand slam in Mariners history in 1977. Overall in 254 games he hit .215 with 3 HR and 51 RBI.

Post playing career, in brief: For decades Jutze has been working at the Developmental Disabilities Resource Center of Jefferson County, CO. He is the center's marketing director, in addition to working full-time with the center's clients.

My collection: I have six of his cards, from 1973 to 1978. I would be interested in trading for 1976 O-Pee-Chee #489.

1970 Topps Booklets: The Reggie Jackson Story

The biggest young star in the game, at the time.

Jackson not only injured his knees playing football, he also broke five vertabrae and was told at the time he might not walk again.

Pretty good resemblance of Reggie in that first panel.

Odd that his uniform has "O" instead of "A's". Good reminder that the A's used to play in Oakland. The bit about breaking the HR record some day is interesting. He seemed like a real threat to Maris's record (still pretty new at the time) but he never came close again, with only one more 40+ season (41 in 1980). He actually dipped all the way to 23 in 1970, but then rattled off ten straight 25+ HR seasons before the 1981 strike.